Fewer history applicants is no cause for concern, minister believes (UK)

The higher education minister commented on the reduction in the number of university applicants in subjects such as history and classics as not ‘necessarily a bad thing.’ Bill Rammell stated yesterday: ‘There is some evidence that students are choosing subjects they believe will be more vocationally beneficial to them.’ Ucas, the universities admissions service, revealed that there were 3.4% fewer students applying for higher education courses this autumn. The drop of 13,000 students is the first for eight years and comes at a time when university fees are to be increased. The number of students applying for history fell by 7.8% as did those opting for classics, by 8.5%.